Haryana to spend over Rs 738 cr on water supply, sewerage

The Haryana government will spend Rs 738.12 crore on 1,121 new schemes to improve drinking water supply in rural areas and sewerage and storm water drainage systems in urban areas in the 2017-18 fiscal.

The scheme wise allocation was decided in a meeting of the Water Supply and Sewerage Board that was chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here today.

A budget outlay of Rs 3,382.82 crore has been approved for the department for 2017-18, which is 27.4 per cent more than the previous year's allocation, an official spokesman said.

The chief minister directed the officers to make maximum use of funds allocated under the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB).

For this, he asked them to fast track the process for getting the projects approved from the NCRPB.

Khattar directed the officers to make an action plan by involving the Public Health Engineering Department, the Health Department, the urban local bodies and the panchayats to check wastage of drinking water and its leakage.

Apart from this, he also directed them to spread awareness among the people at the village-level to stop wastage of water.

It was informed in the meeting that a special campaign for water conservation and cleanliness was carried out in 21 districts in May, June and July, the spokesman said.

To achieve the targets, 154 teams comprising block resource coordinators and junior engineers were made in the state, he said.

Apart from this, the Development and Panchayats Department has also issued instructions regarding streamlining the installation of new submersible pumps or tube wells, the spokesman said.

It was also informed that the operation and maintenance of water supply schemes for 1,752 habitations consisting 3,498 tube wells has been handed over to gram panchayats, he said.

Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) of all the towns, except at Kurukshetra town, whose waste water enters into the Ghaggar river have been completed and commissioned, the spokesman said.

Twenty new STPs have been set up and commissioned during the year 2016-17, he said.